Fears over transparency of Tower Hamlets accounts after £115k payout
Aman Dalvi, who remains a corporate director at Tower Hamlets Council - Credit: Archant
Concern over Tower Hamlets Council’s accounts has been raised following the publication of a compensation payment to a senior staff member.
Stand-in chief executive Aman Dalvi received £115,000 in an out-of-court settlement before the post was scrapped this year.
The council’s annual accounts listed the payment under a salaries, fees and allowances classification, which sparked press reports that Mr Dalvi had received the money for working just 46 days in the post.
But town hall officials insisted the payment related to a settlement reached in a discrimination claim.
Labour’s opposition leader Cllr Sirajul Islam is calling for the council’s audit committee to revisit the way the payment was disclosed.
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He said: “The council has a duty to be transparent and open.”
The council disputed there was any lack of transparency in the accounts.
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A spokesman said: “The accounts have been approved by the cross-party audit committee, agreed by the council’s external auditors and meet statutory publication requirements.”
Mr Dalvi’s stand-in role ended when councillors blocked his permanent appointment to the job, triggering the discrimination claim. He is still employed on £119,000 per annum as a corporate director.
Tory leader Cllr Peter Golds added: “The newspapers did a public service in investigating and covering this payment. That a senior public official received payments as recorded is in the public interest.”
The council spokesman stated that at no time had Mr Dalvi been paid £2,500 a day in his temporary role as reported earlier.
